Contents

He was the son of Muluk Shah.[2] He lived in Basavar as a boy studying in Sambhal and Agra.[1] He moved to Badaun, the town of his name, in 1562 before moving on to enter the service of prince Husayn Khan for the next nine years in Patiala.[1] His later years of study were governed by Muslim mystics. The Mughal emperor, Akbar, appointed him to the religious office in the royal courts in 1574 where he spent much of his career.[1]

The most notable work of Bada'uni is Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh (Selection of Chronicles) or Tarikh-i-Bada'uni (Bada'uni's History) composed in 1004 AH (1595). This work in three volumes is a general History of the Muslims of India. The first volume contains an account of Babur and Humayun. The second volume exclusively deals with Akbar's reign up to 1595. This volume is an unusually frank and critical account of Akbar's administrative measures, particularly religious and his conduct. This volume was kept concealed till Akbar's death and was published after Jahangir's accession. This book gives a contemporary perspective regarding the development of Akbar's views on religion and his religious policy. The third volume describes the lives and works of Muslim religious figures, scholars, physicians and poets[2] The first printed edition of the text of this work was published by the College Press, Calcutta in 1865 and later this work was translated into English by G.S.A. Ranking (Vol.I), W.H. Lowe (Vol.II) and T.W. Haig (Vol.III) (published by the Asiatic Society, Calcutta between 1884-1925 as a part of their Bibliotheca Indiaca series).

Other works by Bada'uni include the Bahr-ul-Asmar, a work on Kitab al-Hadith "book of sayings [of Muhammad]", (lost), a chapter in the Tarikh-i-Alfi (History of the Millennium), commissioned by Akbar to celebrate the millenary of the Hijrah, and the Najat-ur-Rashid[3] (1581), a summary of the Jami al-Tawarikh, the "Universal History" of Rashid-al-Din Hamadani.[citation needed]

1.
India
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India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and it is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, in the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Indias Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a border with Thailand. The Indian subcontinent was home to the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE, in the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed. Social stratification, based on caste, emerged in the first millennium BCE, early political consolidations took place under the Maurya and Gupta empires, the later peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced cultures as far as southeast Asia. In the medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived, much of the north fell to the Delhi sultanate, the south was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. The economy expanded in the 17th century in the Mughal empire, in the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under British East India Company rule, and in the mid-19th under British crown rule. A nationalist movement emerged in the late 19th century, which later, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolent resistance, in 2015, the Indian economy was the worlds seventh largest by nominal GDP and third largest by purchasing power parity. Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the major economies and is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, a nuclear weapons state and regional power, it has the third largest standing army in the world and ranks sixth in military expenditure among nations. India is a constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society and is home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the Old Persian word Hindu, the latter term stems from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, which was the historical local appellation for the Indus River. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi, which translates as The people of the Indus, the geographical term Bharat, which is recognised by the Constitution of India as an official name for the country, is used by many Indian languages in its variations. Scholars believe it to be named after the Vedic tribe of Bharatas in the second millennium B. C. E and it is also traditionally associated with the rule of the legendary emperor Bharata. Gaṇarājya is the Sanskrit/Hindi term for republic dating back to the ancient times, hindustan is a Persian name for India dating back to the 3rd century B. C. E. It was introduced into India by the Mughals and widely used since then and its meaning varied, referring to a region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan or India in its entirety

2.
Agra
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Agra is a city on the banks of the river Yamuna in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is 378 kilometres west of the capital, Lucknow,206 kilometres south of the national capital New Delhi and 125 kilometres north of Gwalior. Agra is one of the most populous cities in Uttar Pradesh, Agra is a major tourist destination because of its many splendid Mughal-era buildings, most notably the Tāj Mahal, Agra Fort and Fatehpūr Sikrī, all three of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Agra falls within the Braj cultural region, the city was first mentioned in the epic Mahābhārata, where it was called Agrevaṇa. Legend ascribes the founding of the city to Raja Badal Singh, however, the 11th century Persian poet Masūd Sad Salmān writes of a desperate assault on the fortress of Agra, then held by the Shāhī King Jayapala, by Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni. It was mentioned for the first time in 1080 AD when a Ghaznavide force captured it, Sultan Sikandar Lodī was the first to move his capital from Delhi to Agra in 1506. He governed the country from here and Agra assumed the importance of the second capital. He died in 1517 and his son, Ibrāhīm Lodī, remained in there for nine more years and several palaces, wells. Finally being defeated at the Battle of Panipat in 1526, between 1540 and 1556, Afghans, beginning with Sher Shah Suri ruled the area. It achieved fame as the capital of the Mughal Empire from 1556 to 1658, Agra features a semiarid climate that borders on a humid subtropical climate. The city features mild winters, hot and dry summers and a monsoon season, however the monsoons, though substantial in Agra, are not quite as heavy as the monsoon in other parts of India. This is a factor in Agra featuring a semiarid climate as opposed to a humid subtropical climate. As of 2011 India census, Agra city has a population of 1,585,704, the urban agglomeration of Agra has a population of 1,760,285. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%, Agra city has an average literacy rate of 73. 11%, lower than the national average of 74%. Literacy rate of males is considerably higher than that of women, the sex ratio in the city was 875 females per thousand males while child sex ratio stood at 857. Agra district literacy rate is 62. 56%, Agra is dominated by Yadavs and Jats. According to the 2011 census, Agra district has a population of 4,380,793 and this gives it a ranking of 41st in India. The district has a density of 1,084 inhabitants per square kilometre

3.
Indian Subcontinent
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Geologically, the Indian subcontinent is related to the land mass that rifted from Gondwana and merged with the Eurasian plate nearly 55 million years ago. Geographically, it is the region in south-central Asia delineated by the Himalayas in the north, the Hindu Kush in the west. Politically, the Indian subcontinent usually includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, sometimes, the term South Asia is used interchangeably with Indian subcontinent. There is no consensus about which countries should be included in each and it is first attested in 1845 to refer to the North and South Americas, before they were regarded as separate continents. Its use to refer to the Indian subcontinent is seen from the twentieth century. It was especially convenient for referring to the region comprising both the British India and the states under British Paramountcy. The term Indian subcontinent also has a geological significance and it was, like the various continents, a part of the supercontinent of Gondwana. A series of tectonic splits caused formation of basins, each drifting in various directions. The geological region called the Greater India once included the Madagascar, Seychelles, Antartica, as a geological term, Indian subcontinent has meant that region formed from the collision of the Indian basin with Eurasia nearly 55 million years ago, towards the end of Paleocene. The Indian subcontinent has been a particularly common in the British Empire. The region, state Mittal and Thursby, has also labelled as India, Greater India. The BBC and some sources refer to the region as the Asian Subcontinent. Some academics refer to it as South Asian Subcontinent, the terms Indian subcontinent and South Asia are sometimes used interchangeably. There is no accepted definition on which countries are a part of South Asia or Indian subcontinent. In dictionary entries, the term subcontinent signifies a large, distinguishable subdivision of a continent, the region experienced high volcanic activity and plate subdivisions, creating Madagascar, Seychelles, Antartica, Austrolasia and the Indian subcontinent basin. The Indian subcontinent drifted northeastwards, colliding with the Eurasian plate nearly 55 million years ago and this geological region largely includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The zone where the Eurasian and Indian subcontinent plates meet remains one of the active areas. The English term mainly continues to refer to the Indian subcontinent, physiographically, it is a peninsular region in south-central Asia delineated by the Himalayas in the north, the Hindu Kush in the west, and the Arakanese in the east

4.
Historian
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A historian is a person who researches, studies, and writes about the past, and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race, if the individual is concerned with events preceding written history, the individual is an historian of prehistory. Although historian can be used to describe amateur and professional historians alike, some historians, though, are recognized by publications or training and experience. Historian became an occupation in the late nineteenth century as research universities were emerging in Germany. Modern historical analysis usually draws upon other social sciences, including economics, sociology, politics, psychology, anthropology, philosophy, while ancient writers do not normally share modern historical practices, their work remains valuable for its insights within the cultural context of the times. Understanding the past appears to be a human need. What constitutes history is a philosophical question, the earliest chronologies date back to Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt, though no historical writers in these early civilizations were known by name. Systematic historical thought emerged in ancient Greece, a development that became an important influence on the writing of history elsewhere around the Mediterranean region, the earliest known critical historical works were The Histories, composed by Herodotus of Halicarnassus who later became known as the father of history. Herodotus attempted to distinguish between more and less reliable accounts, and personally conducted research by travelling extensively, giving accounts of various Mediterranean cultures. Although Herodotus overall emphasis lay on the actions and characters of men and he was also the first to distinguish between cause and immediate origins of an event, while his successor Xenophon introduced autobiographical elements and character studies in his Anabasis. The Romans adopted the Greek tradition, while early Roman works were still written in Greek, the Origines, composed by the Roman statesman Cato the Elder, was written in Latin, in a conscious effort to counteract Greek cultural influence. Strabo was an important exponent of the Greco-Roman tradition of combining geography with history, livy records the rise of Rome from city-state to empire. His speculation about what would have happened if Alexander the Great had marched against Rome represents the first known instance of alternate history, in Chinese historiography, the Classic of History is one of the Five Classics of Chinese classic texts and one of the earliest narratives of China. Sima Qian was the first in China to lay the groundwork for professional historical writing and his written work was the Shiji, a monumental lifelong achievement in literature. Christian historiography began early, perhaps as early as Luke-Acts, which is the source for the Apostolic Age. Writing history was popular among Christian monks and clergy in the Middle Ages and they wrote about the history of Jesus Christ, that of the Church and that of their patrons, the dynastic history of the local rulers. In the Early Middle Ages historical writing often took the form of annals or chronicles recording events year by year, muslim historical writings first began to develop in the 7th century, with the reconstruction of the Prophet Muhammads life in the centuries following his death. With numerous conflicting narratives regarding Muhammad and his companions from various sources, to evaluate these sources, they developed various methodologies, such as the science of biography, science of hadith and Isnad

5.
Islamic scholar
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Ulama are those recognized as scholars or authorities in the religious hierarchy of the Islamic religious studies. They are the guardians of legal and religious tradition in Islam, often they are Imams of important mosques, judges, teachers in the religious faculties of universities. Most ulama specialize in fiqh, and are considered the arbiters of law by mainstream Muslims. Ulama may also include specialists in areas such as muhaddith. Ulama is the plural of the word ‌‍‘alīm, which is derived from the word ‘ilm, sources used in the development of Sharia such as hadith, Ijma, and Qias, or for Shia ulama aql, are all the province of the ulama. At times in Muslim history the ulama have even served as a branch of government. On the other hand, the term is no longer confined to the Arabic bounds and is now taken with a broader meaning, the word ‌‍‘alīm is used twice in the Quran, but not necessarily in the same manner as its application in the Muslim community today. Syed, ‌‍‘alīm in the Quran refers to scientists, indicating the high importance afforded by the Quran to the physical sciences, the formative period of Islamic jurisprudence stretches back to the time of the early Muslim communities. In this period, jurists were more concerned with issues of authority. Progress in theory began to develop with the coming of the early Muslim jurist Muhammad ibn Idris ash-Shafii, laws were decided based on the Ijma of the Ummah, which was most often represented by the legal scholars. In order to qualify as a scholar, it was necessary obtain a doctorate known as the ijazat attadris wa l-ifttd from a Madrasah. In many ways, classical Islamic law functioned like a constitutional law, during the Ottoman era, the term ulama was commonly applied to scholars who had completed their madrasa training and gained an icazet. They had to be an expert in all the religious sciences, in addition, the student had to have been tested and approved by higher ranking ulama. Such assessment by experts gave the ulama legitimacy in the eyes of the public, in 14th and 15th century Ottoman Empire, there were not many madrasahs, and so the ulama traveled to countries such as Persia and Egypt to further their education. Upon the conquering of Istanbul, the sultan converted eight churches into madrasahs, Ulama worked as priest-like authorities who had the role of interpreting and enforcing Islamic shariah law. These jobs were distributed between two types of ulama, the Muftis, who interpreted Shariah law, and the Qadi, the Ottomans had a strict hierarchy of ulama, with the Sheikh ul-Islam holding the highest rank. A Sheikh ul-Islam was chosen by a royal warrant amongst the qadis of important cities, the Sheikh ul-Islam had the power to confirm new sultans, but once the sultan was affirmed, the sultan retained a higher authority than the Sheik ul-Islam. The Sheikh ul-Islam issued fatwas, which were written interpretations of the Quran that had authority over the community, the Sheikh ul-Islam represented the law of shariah and in the 16th century its importance rose which led to increased power

6.
Linguist
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Linguistics is the scientific study of language, and involves an analysis of language form, language meaning, and language in context. Linguists traditionally analyse human language by observing an interplay between sound and meaning, phonetics is the study of speech and non-speech sounds, and delves into their acoustic and articulatory properties. While the study of semantics typically concerns itself with truth conditions, Grammar is a system of rules which governs the production and use of utterances in a given language. These rules apply to sound as well as meaning, and include componential sub-sets of rules, such as those pertaining to phonology, morphology, modern theories that deal with the principles of grammar are largely based within Noam Chomskys ideological school of generative grammar. In the early 20th century, Ferdinand de Saussure distinguished between the notions of langue and parole in his formulation of structural linguistics. According to him, parole is the utterance of speech, whereas langue refers to an abstract phenomenon that theoretically defines the principles. This distinction resembles the one made by Noam Chomsky between competence and performance in his theory of transformative or generative grammar. According to Chomsky, competence is an innate capacity and potential for language, while performance is the specific way in which it is used by individuals, groups. The study of parole is the domain of sociolinguistics, the sub-discipline that comprises the study of a system of linguistic facets within a certain speech community. Discourse analysis further examines the structure of texts and conversations emerging out of a speech communitys usage of language, Stylistics also involves the study of written, signed, or spoken discourse through varying speech communities, genres, and editorial or narrative formats in the mass media. In the 1960s, Jacques Derrida, for instance, further distinguished between speech and writing, by proposing that language be studied as a linguistic medium of communication in itself. Palaeography is therefore the discipline that studies the evolution of scripts in language. Linguistics also deals with the social, cultural, historical and political factors that influence language, through which linguistic, research on language through the sub-branches of historical and evolutionary linguistics also focus on how languages change and grow, particularly over an extended period of time. Language documentation combines anthropological inquiry with linguistic inquiry, in order to describe languages, lexicography involves the documentation of words that form a vocabulary. Such a documentation of a vocabulary from a particular language is usually compiled in a dictionary. Computational linguistics is concerned with the statistical or rule-based modeling of natural language from a computational perspective, specific knowledge of language is applied by speakers during the act of translation and interpretation, as well as in language education – the teaching of a second or foreign language. Policy makers work with governments to implement new plans in education, related areas of study also includes the disciplines of semiotics, literary criticism, translation, and speech-language pathology. Before the 20th century, the philology, first attested in 1716, was commonly used to refer to the science of language

7.
Courtier
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A courtier is a person who is often in attendance at the court of a king or other royal personage. The earliest historical examples of courtiers were part of the retinues of rulers, historically the court was the centre of government as well as the residence of the monarch, and the social and political life were often completely mixed together. Monarchs very often expected the more important nobles to spend much of the year in attendance on them at court, not all courtiers were noble, as they included clergy, soldiers, clerks, secretaries, and agents and middlemen of all sorts with regular business at court. All those who held a court appointment could be called courtiers and those personal favorites without business around the monarch, sometimes called the camarilla, were also considered courtiers. Promotion to important positions could be very rapid at court, the key commodities for a courtier were access and information, and a large court operated at many levels - many successful careers at court involved no direct contact with the monarch. The largest and most famous European court was that of the Palace of Versailles at its peak, although the Forbidden City of Beijing was even larger and more isolated from national life. Very similar features marked the courts of all very large monarchies, whether in Delhi, Topkapı Palace in Istanbul, Ancient Rome, Byzantium, early medieval European courts frequently traveled from place to place following the monarch as he traveled. This was particularly the case in the early French court, but, the European nobility generally had independent power and was less controlled by the monarch until roughly the 18th century, which gave European court life a more complex flavour. The earliest courtiers coincide with the development of definable courts beyond the rudimentary entourages or retinues of rulers, two of the earliest titles referring to the general concept of a courtier were likely the ša rēsi and mazzāz pāni of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The imperial court of the Byzantine Empire at Constantinople would eventually contain at least a thousand courtiers, the courts systems became prevalent in other courts such as those in the Balkan states, the Ottoman Empire, and Russia. Byzantinism is a term that was coined for this spread of the Byzantine system in the 19th century, in modern literature, courtiers are often depicted as insincere, skilled at flattery and intrigue, ambitious and lacking regard for the national interest. More positive representations of the stereotype might include the role played by members of the court in the development of politeness, in modern English, the term is often used metaphorically for contemporary political favourites or hangers-on. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern from William Shakespeares Hamlet Sir Lancelot from Arthurian legend Gríma Wormtongue from J. R. R, Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington from J. K.36, No

8.
Mughal Empire
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The dynasty, though ethnically Turco-Mongol, was Persianate in terms of culture. The Mughal empire extended over parts of the Indian subcontinent. The beginning of the empire is conventionally dated to the victory by its founder Babur over Ibrahim Lodi, the Mughal emperors were Central Asian Turco-Mongols belonging to the Timurid dynasty, who claimed direct descent from both Genghis Khan and Timur. During the reign of Humayun, the successor of Babur, the empire was briefly interrupted by the Sur Empire, the classic period of the Mughal Empire started in 1556 with the ascension of Akbar the Great to the throne. Under the rule of Akbar and his son Jahangir, the region enjoyed economic progress as well as harmony. Akbar was a warrior who also forged alliances with several Hindu Rajput kingdoms. Some Rajput kingdoms continued to pose a significant threat to the Mughal dominance of northwestern India, the reign of Shah Jahan, the fifth emperor, between 1628 and 1658 was the golden age of Mughal architecture. He erected several monuments, the best known of which is the Taj Mahal at Agra, as well as the Moti Masjid, Agra, the Red Fort, the Jama Masjid, Delhi. By the mid-18th century, the Marathas had routed Mughal armies, during the following century Mughal power had become severely limited, and the last emperor, Bahadur Shah II, had authority over only the city of Shahjahanabad. He issued a firman supporting the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and following the defeat was therefore tried by the British East India Company for treason, imprisoned and exiled to Rangoon. Contemporaries referred to the empire founded by Babur as the Timurid empire, which reflected the heritage of his dynasty, another name was Hindustan, which was documented in the Ain-i-Akbari, and which has been described as the closest to an official name for the empire. In the west, the term Mughal was used for the emperor, and by extension, the use of Mughal derived from the Arabic and Persian corruption of Mongol, and it emphasised the Mongol origins of the Timurid dynasty. The term gained currency during the 19th century, but remains disputed by Indologists, similar terms had been used to refer to the empire, including Mogul and Moghul. Nevertheless, Baburs ancestors were sharply distinguished from the classical Mongols insofar as they were oriented towards Persian rather than Turco-Mongol culture, ousted from his ancestral domains in Central Asia, Babur turned to India to satisfy his ambitions. He established himself in Kabul and then pushed steadily southward into India from Afghanistan through the Khyber Pass, Baburs forces occupied much of northern India after his victory at Panipat in 1526. The preoccupation with wars and military campaigns, however, did not allow the new emperor to consolidate the gains he had made in India, the instability of the empire became evident under his son, Humayun, who was driven out of India and into Persia by rebels. Humayuns exile in Persia established diplomatic ties between the Safavid and Mughal Courts, and led to increasing Persian cultural influence in the Mughal Empire, the restoration of Mughal rule began after Humayuns triumphant return from Persia in 1555, but he died from a fatal accident shortly afterwards. Humayuns son, Akbar, succeeded to the throne under a regent, Bairam Khan, through warfare and diplomacy, Akbar was able to extend the empire in all directions and controlled almost the entire Indian subcontinent north of the Godavari River

9.
Hinduism
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Hinduism is a religion, or a way of life, found most notably in India and Nepal. Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world, and some practitioners and scholars refer to it as Sanātana Dharma, scholars regard Hinduism as a fusion or synthesis of various Indian cultures and traditions, with diverse roots and no founder. This Hindu synthesis started to develop between 500 BCE and 300 CE following the Vedic period, although Hinduism contains a broad range of philosophies, it is linked by shared concepts, recognisable rituals, cosmology, shared textual resources, and pilgrimage to sacred sites. Hindu texts are classified into Shruti and Smriti and these texts discuss theology, philosophy, mythology, Vedic yajna, Yoga, agamic rituals, and temple building, among other topics. Major scriptures include the Vedas and Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, prominent themes in Hindu beliefs include the four Puruṣārthas, the proper goals or aims of human life, namely Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha, karma, samsara, and the various Yogas. Hindu practices include such as puja and recitations, meditation, family-oriented rites of passage, annual festivals. Some Hindus leave their world and material possessions, then engage in lifelong Sannyasa to achieve Moksha. Hinduism prescribes the eternal duties, such as honesty, refraining from injuring living beings, patience, forbearance, self-restraint, Hinduism is the worlds third largest religion, with over one billion followers or 15% of the global population, known as Hindus. The majority of Hindus reside in India, Nepal, Mauritius, the Caribbean, the word Hindu is derived from the Indo-Aryan/Sanskrit word Sindhu, the Indo-Aryan name for the Indus River in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent. The term Hindu in these ancient records is a geographical term, the Arabic term al-Hind referred to the people who live across the River Indus. This Arabic term was taken from the pre-Islamic Persian term Hindū. By the 13th century, Hindustan emerged as an alternative name of India. It was only towards the end of the 18th century that European merchants and colonists began to refer to the followers of Indian religions collectively as Hindus. The term Hinduism, then spelled Hindooism, was introduced into the English language in the 18th-century to denote the religious, philosophical, because of the wide range of traditions and ideas covered by the term Hinduism, arriving at a comprehensive definition is difficult. The religion defies our desire to define and categorize it, Hinduism has been variously defined as a religion, a religious tradition, a set of religious beliefs, and a way of life. From a Western lexical standpoint, Hinduism like other faiths is appropriately referred to as a religion, in India the term dharma is preferred, which is broader than the western term religion. Hindu traditionalists prefer to call it Sanatana Dharma, the study of India and its cultures and religions, and the definition of Hinduism, has been shaped by the interests of colonialism and by Western notions of religion. Since the 1990s, those influences and its outcomes have been the topic of debate among scholars of Hinduism, Hinduism as it is commonly known can be subdivided into a number of major currents

10.
Ramayana
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The Ramayana is an ancient Indian epic poem which narrates the struggle of the divine prince Rama to rescue his wife Sita from the demon king Ravana. Along with the Mahabharata, it forms the Sanskrit Itihasa, the Ramayana is one of the largest ancient epics in world literature. It consists of nearly 24,000 verses, divided into seven Kandas, in Hindu tradition, it is considered to be the adi-kavya. It depicts the duties of relationships, portraying characters like the ideal father, the ideal servant, the ideal brother, the ideal wife. The Ramayana was an important influence on later Sanskrit poetry and Hindu life, like the Mahabharata, the Ramayana is not just a story, it presents the teachings of ancient Hindu sages in narrative allegory, interspersing philosophical and ethical elements. The name Ramayana is a compound of the name Rāma and ayana. According to Hindu tradition—and according to the Ramayana itself—the epic belongs to the genre of itihasa like Mahabharata, the definition of itihāsa is a narrative of past events which includes teachings on the goals of human life. According to Hindu tradition, Ramayana takes place during a period of known as Treta Yuga. In its extant form, Valmikis Ramayana is a poem of some 24,000 verses. The text survives in several thousand partial and complete manuscripts, the oldest of which is a manuscript found in Nepal. A Times of India report dated 18 December 2015 informs about discovery of a 6th-century manuscript of the Ramayana at the Asiatic Society library, the Ramayana text has several regional renderings, recensions and subrecensions. Goldman differentiates two major regional recensions, the northern and the southern, scholar Romesh Chunder Dutt writes that the Ramayana, like the Mahabharata, is a growth of centuries, but the main story is more distinctly the creation of one mind. There has been discussion as to whether the first and the last chapters of Valmikis Ramayana were composed by the original author. Most Hindus still believe they are parts of the book, in spite of some style differences. Some cultural evidence, such as the presence of sati in Mahabharata but not in the body of Ramayana. By tradition, the text belongs to the Treta Yuga, second of the four eons of Hindu chronology, Rama is said to have been born in the Treta yuga to king Dasharatha in the Ikshvaku dynasty. The names of the characters are all known in late Vedic literature, however, nowhere in the surviving Vedic poetry is there a story similar to the Ramayana of Valmiki. Also, in the epic Mahabharata, there is a version of Ramayana known as Ramopakhyana and this version is depicted as a narration to Yudhishthira

11.
Razmnama
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The Razmnāma is a Persian translation of the Mahabharata. In Persian, “Razm” means “war” and nama means “tale” or “epic”, in 1574 Akbar started a Maktab Khana or a house of translation works in Fatehpur Sikri. He endorsed the work to a few officials to make translations of the Sanskrit books Rajatarangini, Ramayana, in 1582 an order was passed to translate the Mahabharata into Persian. The translation work of the Mahabharata, which has one lakh Slokas, was carried out during the period 1584–1586, today a copy of this translation work can be found in the “City Palace Museum” of Jaipur. Mushfiq has contributed the paintings to this book, the speciality of this Razmnamah is the paintings of the events of Mahabharata in the book. The second copy of the Razmnama was completed between 1598 and 1599, when compared with the first copy, the second copy is found to be more elaborate. The 161 paintings found in this copy provide illustatrations of the Mahabharata, the paintings were the token of the excellence of the artists of Akbar’s time. It clearly shows the patronage of artists during Akbar’s reign, the copies were sent to members of royal families as gifts to help them understand the Hindu religion better. According to Akbar’s courtier Abd al-Qadir Badayuni, Akbar ordered the copies to be sent to all the Amirs of his kingdom, according to the preface written by Abul Fazl the historian in Akbars court, the intention behind these gifts and their distribution was very pious

12.
Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak
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He was also one of the Nine Jewels of Akbars royal court and the brother of Faizi, the poet laureate of emperor Akbar. Abul Fazl ibn Mubarak ancestors hailed from Yemen, however, it was common during the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal Empire for individuals to embellish their ancestral heritage to raise their stature. He was a descendant of Shaikh Musa who lived in Rel near Siwistan, Sindh and his grandfather, Shaikh Khizr, moved to Nagaur which had attained importance as a sufi mystic centre under Shaikh Hamid-ud-din Sufi Sawali, a khalifa of Shaikh Muin-ud-din Chisti of Ajmer. At Nagaur Shaikh Khizr settled near the tomb of Shaikh Hamid-ud-din, Abul Fazls father, Shaikh Mubarak Nagori, was born in 1506 at Nagaur. Soon after Fazls birth, Khizr travelled to Sindh to bring members of his family to Nagaur. Khizrs death and a famine and plague that ravaged Nagaur caused great hardship to the destitute Mubarak, despite these hardships Mubaraks mother arranged a good education for him. One of Mubaraks earliest teacher was Shaikh Attanwho was known for his piety, another important teacher who influenced Shaikh Mubarak was Shaikh Fayyazi, a disciple of Khwaja Ubaidullah Ahrar. Later he went to Ahmedabad and studied under Shaikh Abul Fazl Gazruni, Shaikh Umar, Yusuf advised Mubarak to go to Agra and set up a madrasah there. Mubarak reached Agra in April 1543 and on the suggestion of Shaikh Alawal Balawal set up his residence at Charbagh, mir Rafiud-din Safavi of Inju lived close by and Mubarak married a near relative of his. Mubarak established his madrash in Agra where his field of instruction was philosophy. He also spent some time in Badaun, holy land of Sufism, the orthodox group of ulama criticised Mubarak and accused him of changing his views. Shaikh Mubaraks first son, the poet Abul Faizi and his second son Abul Fazl were born in Agra, Abul Fazls education began with Arabic and by the age of five he could read and write. His father started teaching him all the branches of Islamic sciences but Fazl could not adhere to conventional learning. A friend rescued him from state and he resumed his studies. Some incidents from his life reflect on his brilliance. A dictionary of Ishafani, which had been eaten by white ants came under his observation and he removed the parts that had been eaten and joined blank paper to the rest. He discovered the beginning and end of fragment and eventually penned a draft text. Subsequently the entire work was discovered and on comparison to Fazls draft the original differed in two or three places

13.
Sambhal
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Sambhal is a city in Uttar Pradesh, India. Sambhal is a Muslim dominated area and it takes 2 hours 40 mins to reach Sambhal and is 158.6 kilometres from New Delhi. Sambhal district, which had population of around 22 lakh, was carved out of Moradabad district in September 2011 and it consists of three tehsils — Sambhal and Chandausi, taken from Moradabad, and Gunnaur, taken from Badaun. Sambhal city is famous for its kind of horn and bone craft items which is manufactured in Sarai Tarin 4 km away from Sambhal city which are being exported. Sambhal headquarter is situated in Pawasa Sambhal, Sambhal has a rich history and has been home to several rulers and emperors. At that time it was a big city. From the Lodi’s to the Mughal’s, right from the 5th century BC and spanning up to the 16th Century, during 5th century BC, Sambhal was home to the Panchal rulers and was subsequently a part of king Ashoka’s empire. Chauhan gained victory over the latter in the first war and vice versa is said to have occurred in the second war, there nevertheless is no circumstantial evidence to prove the same and is widely regarded as a legend. Qutubuddin Aibak, the first Muslim sultan of Delhi, seized Sambhal and he, therefore, administered a Muslim rule in Sambhal to try and vanquish all of the Hindu ruler’s forces and enslave him for the rest of his life. In 15th century BC, Sikandar Lodi, the ruler of the Lodi empire, declared Sambhal as one of the capitals of his vast empire. Babar, the first Mughal ruler constructed the first Babri Masjid in Sambhal which is to date considered to be a historic monument and he later on made his son Humayun the governor of Sambhal and Humayun in turn passed on the reigns to his son Akbar. Sambhal is said to have flourished under the Akbar rule but subsequently deteriorated in popularity when Akbar’s son Shah Jahan was made the incharge of the city. Shahi Jama Masjid The Sambhal mosque, built by a Mughal general, Mir Hindu Beg and this is the famous Jama-Masjid located in the Kot East colony of Sambhal. It is also the biggest mosque in sambhal, Chakki Ka Paat Chakki Ka Paat refers to the traditional stone grinder. It was used in the days to grind the food. These traditionally grinders are generally very heavy as they are made of stone, but one man from Sambhal, popularly known as Nut is said to put it on the height of 50 feet and hung it on top by making some stunts. Today the grind is in condition and the people can have a look themselves to believe it. Tota maina kabr is a famous tourist spot and enshrouded in mystery and it is an unoccupied tomb that has calligraphy present on it and is popularly known as the Tota Maina Kabr

14.
Sufism
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Sufism or Taṣawwuf, which is often defined as Islamic mysticism, the inward dimension of Islam, or the phenomenon of mysticism within Islam, is a mystical trend in Islam characterized. These orders meet for sessions in meeting places known as zawiyas, khanqahs. They strive for ihsan as detailed in a hadith, Ihsan is to worship Allah as if you see Him, if you cant see Him, Rumi stated, The Sufi is hanging on to Muhammad, like Abu Bakr. Sufis regard Muhammad as al-Insān al-Kāmil, the perfect man who exemplifies the morality of God. The orders largely follow one of the four madhhabs of Sunni Islam, classical Sufis were characterized by their asceticism, especially by their attachment to dhikr, the practice of repeating the names of God, often performed after prayers. According to William Chittick, In a broad sense, Sufism can be described as the interiorization, historically, Muslims have used the Arabic word taṣawwuf to identify the practice of Sufis. In this view, it is necessary to be a Muslim to be a true Sufi. However, Islamic scholars themselves are not by any means in agreement about the meaning of the word sufi, Sufis themselves claim that Tasawwuf is an aspect of Islam similar to Sharia, inseparable from Islam and an integral part of Islamic belief and practice. Classical Sufi scholars have defined Tasawwuf as a science whose objective is the reparation of the heart and turning it away from all else, two origins of the word sufi have been suggested. Commonly, the root of the word is traced to ṣafā. Another origin is ṣūf, wool in Arabic, referring to the simple cloaks the early Muslim ascetics wore, the two were combined by the Sufi al-Rudhabari, who said, The Sufi is the one who wears wool on top of purity. Scholars generally agree that ṣūf or wool is probably the word of Sufi. This term was given to them because they wore woollen garments, the term labisal-suf meant he clad himself in wool and applied to a person who renounced the world and became an ascetic. Others have suggested that the word comes from the term ahl aṣ-ṣuffah and these men and women who sat at al-Masjid an-Nabawi are considered by some to be the first Sufis. Al-Qushayri and Ibn Khaldun both rejected all other than ṣūf on linguistic grounds. Sufi orders are based on the bayah that was given to the Prophet Muhammad by his Sahaba, by pledging allegiance to the Prophet Muhammad, the Sahaba had committed themselves to the service of God. According to Islamic belief, by pledging allegiance to Prophet Muhammad and it is through the Prophet Muhammad that Sufis aim to learn about, understand and connect with God. Such a concept may be understood by the hadith, which Sufis regard to be authentic, in which Prophet Muhammad said, I am the city of knowledge, eminent Sufis such as Ali Hujwiri refer to Ali as having a very high ranking in Tasawwuf

15.
Akbar
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Abul-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad, popularly known as Akbar I and later Akbar the Great, was a Mughal Emperor from 1556 until his death. He was the ruler of the Mughal Dynasty in India. Akbar succeeded his father, Humayun, under a regent, Bairam Khan, a strong personality and a successful general, Akbar gradually enlarged the Mughal Empire to include nearly all of the Indian Subcontinent north of the Godavari river. His power and influence, however, extended over the country because of Mughal military, political, cultural. To unify the vast Mughal state, Akbar established a system of administration throughout his empire and adopted a policy of conciliating conquered rulers through marriage. To preserve peace and order in a religiously and culturally diverse empire, Mughal India developed a strong and stable economy, leading to commercial expansion and greater patronage of culture. Akbar himself was a patron of art and culture, holy men of many faiths, poets, architects and artisans adorned his court from all over the world for study and discussion. Akbars courts at Delhi, Agra, and Fatehpur Sikri became centres of the arts, letters, perso-Islamic culture began to merge and blend with indigenous Indian elements, and a distinct Indo-Persian culture emerged characterised by Mughal style arts, painting, and architecture. A simple, monotheistic cult, tolerant in outlook, it centred on Akbar as a prophet, for which he drew the ire of the ulema, many of his courtiers followed Din-i-Ilahi as their religion as well, as many believed that Akbar was a prophet. One famous courtier who followed this religion was Birbal. Akbars reign significantly influenced the course of Indian history, during his rule, the Mughal empire tripled in size and wealth. He created a military system and instituted effective political and social reforms. By abolishing the tax on non-Muslims and appointing them to high civil and military posts, he was the first Mughal ruler to win the trust. He had Sanskrit literature translated, participated in festivals, realising that a stable empire depended on the co-operation. Thus, the foundations for an empire under Mughal rule was laid during his reign. Akbar was succeeded as emperor by his son, Jahangir, defeated in battles at Chausa and Kannauj in 1539–40 by the forces of Sher Shah Suri Mughal emperor Humayun fled westward to Sindh. There he met and married the then 14-year-old Hamida Banu Begum, daughter of Shaikh Ali Akbar Jami, a teacher of Humauyuns younger brother Hindal Mirza. Jalal ud-din Muhammad Akbar was born the year on 15 October 1542 at the Rajput Fortress of Umerkot in Sindh

16.
Babur
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He was a direct descendant of Turco-Mongol conqueror Timur from the Barlas clan, through his father, and also a descendant of Genghis Khan through his mother. Babur was the eldest son of Umar Sheikh Mirza and he ascended the throne of Fergana in 1495 at the age of twelve and faced rebellion from his own relatives. He conquered Samarkand two years later, only to lose the city of Fergana soon after, in his attempt to reconquer Fergana, he lost control of Samarkand. In 1501, his attempt to both cities went in vain as he was defeated by Muhammad Shaybani Khan. In 1504, he conquered Kabul, which was under the rule of the infant heir of Ulugh Begh. Babur formed a partnership with Safavid ruler Ismail I and reconquered parts of central Asia, including Samarkand, only to lose it. After losing Samarkand for the time, Babur turned his attention to creating his empire in north India. In 1524, Daulat Khan Lodi, a rebel of the Lodhi dynasty, invited Babur to overthrow Ibrahim, Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodi at the First Battle of Panipat in 1526 and founded the Mughal empire. However, he faced opposition, this time from Rana Sanga of Mewar who considered Babur a foreigner. The Rana was defeated at the Battle of Khanwa, notable among his sons are Humayun, Kamran Mirza and Hindal Mirza. Babur died in 1530 and was succeeded by Humayun, according to Baburs wishes, he was buried in Bagh-e-Babur in Kabul, Afghanistan. Being a patrilineal descendant of Timur, Babur considered himself a Timurid and Turk and he is considered a national hero in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Many of his poems also have become popular folk songs and he wrote his autobiography, Baburnama, in Chaghatai Turkic and this was translated into Persian during Akbars reign. Ẓahīr-ud-Dīn is Arabic for Defender of the Faith, and Muhammad honours the Islamic prophet, the name is generally taken in reference to the Persian babr, meaning tiger. The word repeatedly appears in Ferdowsis Shahnameh and was borrowed into the Turkic languages of Central Asia. The choice of vowel would nominally be restricted to one of the four front vowels, hence babr → babür, thackston argues for an alternate derivation from the PIE word beaver, pointing to similarities between the pronunciation Bābor and the Russian bobr. Babur bore the royal titles Badshah and al-ṣultānu l-ʿazam wa l-ḫāqān al-mukkarram pādshāh-e ġāzī and he and later Mughal emperors used the title of mirza when they were princes. Baburs memoirs form the source for details of his life

17.
Humayun
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Like his father, Babur, he lost his kingdom early but regained it with the aid of the Safavid dynasty of Persia, with additional territory. At the time of his death in 1556, the Mughal Empire spanned almost one million square kilometres, in December 1530 Humayun succeeded his father as ruler of the Mughal territories in the Indian subcontinent. At the age of 23, Humayun was an inexperienced ruler when he came to power and his half-brother Kamran Mirza inherited Kabul and Lahore, the northernmost parts of their fathers empire. Mirza was to become a rival of Humayun. Humayun lost Mughal territories to the Pashtun noble, Sher Shah Suri, Humayuns return from Persia was accompanied by a large retinue of Persian noblemen and signalled an important change in Mughal court culture. The Central Asian origins of the dynasty were largely overshadowed by the influences of Persian art, architecture, language, there are many stone carvings and thousands of Persian manuscripts in India dating from the time of Humayun. Subsequently, Humayun further expanded the Empire in a short time, leaving a substantial legacy for his son. His peaceful personality, patience and non-provocative methods of speech earned him the title ’Insān-i-Kamil, among the Mughals. The decision of Babur to divide the territories of his empire between two of his sons was unusual in India, although it had been a common Central Asian practice since the time of Genghis Khan. Unlike most monarchies, which practised primogeniture, the Timurids followed the example of Genghis, although under that system only a Chingissid could claim sovereignty and khanal authority, any male Chinggisid within a given sub-branch had an equal right to the throne. While Genghis Khans Empire had been divided between his sons upon his death, almost every Chinggisid succession since had resulted in fratricide. Timur himself had divided his territories among Pir Muhammad, Miran Shah, Khalil Sultan and Shah Rukh, upon Baburs death, Humayuns territories were the least secure. He had ruled only four years, and not all umarah viewed Humayun as the rightful ruler, indeed, earlier, when Babur had become ill, some of the nobles had tried to install his uncle, Mahdi Khwaja, as ruler. Although this attempt failed, it was a sign of problems to come, when Humayun came to the throne of the Mughal Empire, several of his brothers revolted against him. Another brother Khalil Mirza supported Humayun but was assassinated, the Emperor commenced construction of a tomb for his brother in 1538, but this was not yet finished when Humayun was forced to flee to Persia. Sher Shah destroyed the structure and no work was done on it after Humayuns restoration. Humayun had two rivals for his lands, Sultan Bahadur of Gujarat to the southwest and Sher Shah Suri settled along the river Ganges in Bihar to the east. Humayuns first campaign was to confront Sher Shah Suri, halfway through this offensive Humayun had to abandon it and concentrate on Gujarat, where a threat from Ahmed Shah had to be met

18.
Hijra (Islam)
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The Hegira or Hijrah is the migration or journey of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Yathrib, later renamed by him to Medina, in the year 622. In June 622, after being warned of a plot to him, Muhammad secretly left his home in Mecca to emigrate to Yathrib,320 km north of Mecca. Yathrib was soon renamed Madīnat an-Nabī, but an-Nabī was soon dropped, so its name is Medina, the Hijrah is also often identified erroneously with the start of the Islamic calendar, which was set to Julian 16 July 622. Muhammad himself did not join this emigration, in that year, his followers fled Meccas leading tribe, the Quraysh, who sent emissaries to Ethiopia to bring them back to the Arabian Peninsula. However, the Negus refused to send them back, in Mecca, at the pilgrimage season of 620, Muhammad met six men of the Banu Khazraj from Medina, propounded to them the doctrines of Islam, and recited portions of the Quran. Impressed by this, the six embraced Islam, and at the Pilgrimage of 621 and this is known as the First Pledge of al-Aqaba. At their request, Muhammad sent with them Mus‘ab ibn Umair to teach them the instructions of Islam, biographers have recorded the considerable success of Musab ibn Umair in preaching the message of Islam and bringing people under the umbrella of Islam in Medina. They invited him to come to Medina as an arbitrator to reconcile among the hostile tribes and this is known as the second pledge at al-Aqabah, and was a politico-religious success that paved the way for his and his followers immigration to Medina. Following the pledges, Muhammad encouraged his followers to migrate to Medina, during the early seventh century, Medina was inhabited by two types of population, Jewish and pagan Arabs. The Jews there had three principal clans – Banu Qaynuqa, Banu Nadir, and Banu Qurayza, the Arab pagans had two tribes – the Banu Aws and Khazraj. At that time, the Jews there had the hand with their large settlement. Traditional rules for maintaining law and order became dysfunctional, and, without a man with considerable authority over things. As the pagan Arabs of Medina lived in proximity to the Jews, they had gained some knowledge about their scriptures. According to Muslims tradition, after receiving divine direction to depart Mecca, Muhammad began taking preparation, on the night of his departure, Muhammads house was besieged by men of the Quraysh who planned to kill him in the morning. Soon, Muhammad joined Abu Bakr, left the city, next morning, the besiegers were frustrated to find Ali on Muhammads bed. Fooled and thwarted by Muhammads plan, they rummaged the city in search for him, and some of them reached the threshold of the cave. When the Quraysh came to know of Muhammads escape, they announced heavy reward for bringing Muhammad back to them, unable to resist this temptation, pursuers scattered in all directions. After staying for three days, Muhammad and Abu Bakr resumed their journey and were pursued by Suraqa bin Malik, but each time he neared Muhammads party, his horse stumbled and he finally abandoned his desire of capturing Muhammad

19.
Jami al-Tawarikh
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The Jāmiʿ al-tawārīkh, is a work of literature and history, produced in the Mongol Ilkhanate in Persia. Written by Rashid-al-Din Hamadani at the start of the 14th century, the surviving portions total approximately 400 pages, with versions in Persian and Arabic. The work describes cultures and major events in history from China to Europe, in addition, it covers Mongol history. Approximately 20 illustrated copies were made of the work during Rashid al-Dins lifetime, but only a few remain. The oldest known copy is an Arabic version, of which half has been lost, another set of pages, with 151 folios from the same volume, is owned by the Edinburgh University Library. Two Persian copies from the first generation of manuscripts survive in the Topkapı Palace Library in Istanbul, Rashid-al-Din Hamadani was born in 1247 at Hamadan, Iran into a Jewish family. The son of an apothecary, he studied medicine and joined the court of the Ilkhan emperor, Abaqa Khan and he converted to Islam around the age of thirty. He rapidly gained importance, and in 1304 became the vizier of emperor. He retained his position until 1316, experiencing three successive reigns, but, convicted of having poisoned the second of these three Khans, Öljaitü, he was executed on July 13,1318. Hamdani was responsible for setting up a social and economic system in Iran after the destruction of the Mongol invasions. He expanded the university at Rab-e Rashidi, which attracted scholars and students from Egypt and Syria to China, and his immense wealth made it said of him that he was the best paid author in Iran. The Jāmiʿ al-tawārīkh was one of the grandest projects of the Ilkhanate period, not just a lavishly illustrated book, but a vehicle to justify Mongol hegemony over Iran. The text was commissioned by Il-Khan Ghazan, who was anxious for the Mongols to retain a memory of their nomadic roots. To compile the History, Rashid al-Din set up an entire precinct at the university of Rab-e Rashidi in the capital of Tabriz and it contained multiple buildings, including a mosque, hospital, library, and classrooms, employing over 300 workers. After the death of Ghazan in 1304, his successor Öljaitü asked Rashid al-Din to extend the work and this text was finally completed in sometime between 1306 and 1311. Later, Rashids son became Vizier, in his own right, several of the Jāmiʿs compositions were used as models for the later seminal illustrated version of the Shahnameh known as the Demotte Shahnameh. In the 15th century, the Arabic copy was in Herat and it then passed to the court of the Mughal Empire in India, where it was in the possession of the emperor Akbar. There is then a record of it passing through the hands of later Mughal emperors for the few centuries

20.
Rashid-al-Din Hamadani
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Rashīd al-Dīn Ṭabīb, also known as Rashīd al-Dīn Faḍlullāh Hamadānī, was a statesman, historian and physician in Ilkhanate-ruled Iran. He was born into a Persian Jewish family from Hamadan, having converted to Islam by the age of 30, Rashid al-Din became the powerful vizier of the Ilkhan, Ghazan. Later he was commissioned by Ghazan to write the Jāmiʿ al-Tawārīkh, now considered the most important single source for the history of the Ilkhanate period and he retained his position as a vizier until 1316. After being charged with poisoning the Ilkhanid king Öljaitü, he was executed in 1318, historian Morris Rossabi calls Rashid-al-Din arguably the most distinguished figure in Persia during Mongolian rule. He was an author and established the Rab-e Rashidi academic foundation in Tabriz. Rashid al-Din was born into a Persian Jewish family in Hamadan and his grandfather had been a courtier to the founder Ilkhanate ruler Hulagu Khan, and Rashid al-Dins father was an apothecary at the court. He converted to Islam around the age of thirty, Rashid was trained as a physician and started service under Hulagus son, Abaqa Khan. He rose to become the Grand Vizier of the Ilkhanid court at Soltaniyeh and his son, Ghiyas al-Din ibn Rashid al-Din, briefly served as vizier after him. Rashid was assisted by Bolad, a Mongol nobleman who was the emissary of the Great Khan to the Ilkhanid court, Bolad provided him with much background about Mongol history, especially about the Borjigin clan. The Compendium was completed between 1307 and 1316, during the reign of Öljaitü, the work was executed at the elaborate scriptorium Rab-e Rashidi at Qazvin, where a large team of calligraphers and illustrators were employed to produce lavishly illustrated books. These books could also be copied, while preserving accuracy, using a printing process imported from China, the work was at the time of completion, c. Several sections have not survived or been discovered, volumes I and II of the Jāmiʿ al-Tawārīkh have survived and are of great importance for the study of the Ilkhanate. In his narration down to the reign of Möngke Khan, Ata-Malik Juvayni was Rashid al-Dins main source, however, he also utilized numerous now-lost Far Eastern, the Jāmiʿ al-Tawārīkh is perhaps the single most comprehensive Persian source on the Mongol period. For the period of Genghis Khan, his sources included the now lost Altan Debter Golden Book and his treatment of the Ilkhanid period seems to be biased, as he himself was a high official, yet it is still seen as the most valuable written source for the dynasty. The third volume is either lost or was never completed, its topic was historical geography and this was the product of the geographical extension of the Mongol Empire, and is most clearly reflected in this work by Rashid al-Din. The text describes the different peoples with whom the Mongols came into contact and is one of the first attempts to transcend a single cultural perspective, the Jāmiʿ attempted to provide a history of the whole world of that era, though many parts are sadly lost. Rashid al-Din also collected all of his compositions into a volume, entitled Jami al-Tasanif al-Rashidi, complete with maps. He even had some of his works, on medicine and government

21.
R. C. Majumdar
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Ramesh Chandra Majumdar was a respected historian and professor of Indian history. Born at Khandarpara, in Faridpur District on 4 December 1888, to Haladhar Majumdar and Bidhumukhi, in 1905, he passed his Entrance Examination from Ravenshaw College, Cuttack. In 1907, he passed F. A. with first class scholarship from Ripon College and joined Presidency College, Calcutta. Graduating in B. A. in 1909 and MA from Calcutta University in 1911 and he started his teaching career as a Lecturer at Dacca Government Training College. Since 1914, he spent seven years as a professor of history at the University of Calcutta and he got his doctorate for his thesis Corporate Life in Ancient India. In 1921 he joined the newly established University of Dacca as Professor of History and he also served, until he became its Vice Chancellor, as the Head of the Department of History as well as the Dean of the Faculty of Arts. Between 1924 and 1936 he was Provost of Jagannath Hall, then he became the Vice Chancellor of that University, for five years from 1937 to 1942. From 1950, he was Principal of the College of Indology and he was elected the General President of the Indian History Congress and also became the Vice President of the International Commission set up by the UNESCO for the history of mankind. He started his research on ancient India, after extensive travels to Southeast Asia and research, he wrote detailed histories of Champa, Suvarnadvipa and Kambuja Desa. On the initiative of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, he took up the mantle of editing a multi-volume tome on Indian History. Starting in 1951, he toiled for twenty six years to describe the history of the Indian people from the Vedic Period to the present day in eleven volumes. In 1955 Majumdar became the founder-principal of the College of Indology of Nagpur University, in 1958-59 he taught Indian history in the Universities of Chicago and Pennsylvania. He was also the president of the Asiatic Society and the vangiya sahitya parisad, for some time he was also the Sheriff of Calcutta. When the final volume of The History and Culture of the Indian People was published in 1977 and he also edited the three-volume history of Bengal published by Dacca University. His last book was Jivaner Smritidvipe, when the Government of India set up an editorial Committee to author a history of the freedom struggle of India, he was its principal member. But, following a conflict with the then Education Minister Maulana Abul Kalam Azad on the Sepoy Mutiny, he left the government job, the Sepoy Mutiny & Revolt of 1857. According to him the origins of Indias freedom struggle lie in the English-educated Indian middle-class and his views on the freedom struggle are found in his book History of the Freedom Movement in India. He was an admirer of Swami Vivekananda and Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, the Early History of Bengal, Dacca,1924

22.
Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
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Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan is an Indian educational trust. It was founded on November 7,1938 by Dr. K. M. Munshi, the trust operates a number of primary and secondary institutes in India and abroad. It organizes and runs 100 private schools in India, the schools are known as Bharatiya Vidya Mandir, Bhavans Vidya Mandir, or Bhavans Vidyalaya. The Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan is a totally apolitical organisation, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavans motto is Let noble thoughts come to us from every side, a quote from the Rigveda. The constitution of the Bhavan lays down the qualities that everyone connected with the Bhavan should develop for the Bhavans consolidation and sustained growth. They are, An understanding of the aims of the Bhavan, a spirit of dedication to the Bhavan which will prompt everyone to ask, not what can I get from the Bhavan. But what can I do for the Bhavan, a faith in the culture of our land, particularly in the Epics and in the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita. The habit of daily prayer, in private and in congregation, a passion for the Sanskrit language, to study it oneself and to popularize it among others. The current President of the Bhavan is Surendralal G Mehta, some of the honorary members on the Board include His Holiness The Dalai Lama, Prince Charles, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, JRD Tata and Mother Teresa, among others. Andhra Pradesh Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan – Rajahmundry http, //www. bvbrjy, doshi Vidyalaya – Jamnagar Bhavans Smt. Maniben Kashibai Patel School – Nadiad Bhavans GIPCL Academy – Surat Haryana Bhavan Vidyalaya – Panchkula Karnataka Bhavans Vidyalaya – Kurkunta Bhavans D. G. bvm-girinagar. hpage. M, sutaria Industrial Training Institute, Dakor Shri Swaminarayan Technical Institute Trivedi K. M

23.
Packard Humanities Institute
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It also funds external projects such as the Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources and the complete works of C. P. E. PHI is also concerned with education of children. The Institute is independent of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and is not associated in any way with any Hewlett-Packard Company foundations and its current president is former professor David Woodley Packard, who has served as a director, but never an officer, of Hewlett Packard. In 1997 with the approval of the United States Congress the David, the facility is located inside Mount Pony in Culpeper, Virginia. With Congress and the Library of Congress the facility was transformed into the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center, the Library of Congress Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation is a state-of-the-art facility funded as a gift to the nation by the Packard Humanities Institute. The Packard Campus is home to nearly 7 million collection items and it provides staff support for the Library of Congress National Film Preservation Board, the National Film Preservation Board and the national registries for film and recorded sound. PHI has worked on the restoration of two historic theaters, San Jose, California Fox Theatres, that is now the new home of the Opera San José. Opened 1927 the San Jose Fox closed in 1973, PHI renovated and reopened in it in 2004. PHI worked on the restoration of the historic Stanford Theatre, designed by architects Weeks and Day, the theater was originally opened in 1925. In 1987 it was purchased and restored by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and it is currently operated by the Stanford Theatre Foundation, led by David Woodley Packard. Using the experience and knowledge of helping make the Packard Campus, opened in 2014, Packard Humanities Institute in Santa Clarita, California has film vaults for media preservation. The facility has one of the most modern vaults for the storage of nitrate film, the exterior of the facility is ancient Greek architecture made with Italian marble. The interior is made in the style of San Marco, Florence monastery, PHI Santa Clarita also hold 400,000 achieve films from Paramount Pictures, Warner Brothers, Columbia Pictures, 20th Century Fox and Republic Pictures. PHI Santa Clarita also hold and is transferring the Hearst Metrotone News collection, that are newsreels made from 1915-1975 on a Scanity motion picture film scanner

24.
Virtual International Authority File
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The Virtual International Authority File is an international authority file. It is a joint project of national libraries and operated by the Online Computer Library Center. The project was initiated by the US Library of Congress, the German National Library, the National Library of France joined the project on October 5,2007. The project transitions to a service of the OCLC on April 4,2012, the aim is to link the national authority files to a single virtual authority file. In this file, identical records from the different data sets are linked together, a VIAF record receives a standard data number, contains the primary see and see also records from the original records, and refers to the original authority records. The data are available online and are available for research and data exchange. Reciprocal updating uses the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting protocol, the file numbers are also being added to Wikipedia biographical articles and are incorporated into Wikidata. VIAFs clustering algorithm is run every month, as more data are added from participating libraries, clusters of authority records may coalesce or split, leading to some fluctuation in the VIAF identifier of certain authority records

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Integrated Authority File
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The Integrated Authority File or GND is an international authority file for the organisation of personal names, subject headings and corporate bodies from catalogues. It is used mainly for documentation in libraries and increasingly also by archives, the GND is managed by the German National Library in cooperation with various regional library networks in German-speaking Europe and other partners. The GND falls under the Creative Commons Zero license, the GND specification provides a hierarchy of high-level entities and sub-classes, useful in library classification, and an approach to unambiguous identification of single elements. It also comprises an ontology intended for knowledge representation in the semantic web, available in the RDF format

India
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India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and it is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to

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Flag

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The granite tower of Brihadeeswarar Temple in Thanjavur was completed in 1010 CE by Raja Raja Chola I.

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Writing the will and testament of the Mughal king court in Persian, 1590–1595

Agra
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Agra is a city on the banks of the river Yamuna in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is 378 kilometres west of the capital, Lucknow,206 kilometres south of the national capital New Delhi and 125 kilometres north of Gwalior. Agra is one of the most populous cities in Uttar Pradesh, Agra is a major tourist destination because of its many

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Taj Mahal in Agra

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The Red fort, Agra, c. 1820

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Agra, Main Street, c.1858

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Agra Cantt. Railway Station

Indian Subcontinent
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Geologically, the Indian subcontinent is related to the land mass that rifted from Gondwana and merged with the Eurasian plate nearly 55 million years ago. Geographically, it is the region in south-central Asia delineated by the Himalayas in the north, the Hindu Kush in the west. Politically, the Indian subcontinent usually includes Bangladesh, Bhu

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Indian subcontinent

Historian
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A historian is a person who researches, studies, and writes about the past, and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race, if the individual is concerned with events preceding written history, the individual is an historian of prehi

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Herodotus was a Greek historian who lived in the 5th century BC and one of the earliest historians whose work survives.

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Reproduction of part of a tenth-century copy of Thucydides 's History of the Peloponnesian War.

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Leonardo Bruni (c.1370–1444), the historian who first divided history into the three eras of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and Modern times.

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A page of Bede 's Ecclesiastical History of the English People

Islamic scholar
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Ulama are those recognized as scholars or authorities in the religious hierarchy of the Islamic religious studies. They are the guardians of legal and religious tradition in Islam, often they are Imams of important mosques, judges, teachers in the religious faculties of universities. Most ulama specialize in fiqh, and are considered the arbiters of

Linguist
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Linguistics is the scientific study of language, and involves an analysis of language form, language meaning, and language in context. Linguists traditionally analyse human language by observing an interplay between sound and meaning, phonetics is the study of speech and non-speech sounds, and delves into their acoustic and articulatory properties.

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Ancient Tamil inscription at Thanjavur

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Topics and terminology

Courtier
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A courtier is a person who is often in attendance at the court of a king or other royal personage. The earliest historical examples of courtiers were part of the retinues of rulers, historically the court was the centre of government as well as the residence of the monarch, and the social and political life were often completely mixed together. Mon

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Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester

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A disgruntled courtier compares himself to a nobleman

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Madame de Pompadour

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Veronica Franco

Mughal Empire
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The dynasty, though ethnically Turco-Mongol, was Persianate in terms of culture. The Mughal empire extended over parts of the Indian subcontinent. The beginning of the empire is conventionally dated to the victory by its founder Babur over Ibrahim Lodi, the Mughal emperors were Central Asian Turco-Mongols belonging to the Timurid dynasty, who claim

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Babur, founder of the Mughal Empire.

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Flag

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Mughal Army artillerymen during the reign of Akbar.

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Mughal matchlock rifle.

Hinduism
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Hinduism is a religion, or a way of life, found most notably in India and Nepal. Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world, and some practitioners and scholars refer to it as Sanātana Dharma, scholars regard Hinduism as a fusion or synthesis of various Indian cultures and traditions, with diverse roots and no founder. This Hindu syn

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Swami Vivekananda was a key figure in introducing Vedanta and Yoga in Europe and USA, raising interfaith awareness and making Hinduism a world religion.

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The Rigveda is the first and most important Veda and is one of the oldest religious texts. This Rigveda manuscript is in Devanagari.

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A wedding is the most extensive personal ritual an adult Hindu undertakes in his or her life. A typical Hindu wedding is solemnized before Vedic fire ritual (shown).

Ramayana
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The Ramayana is an ancient Indian epic poem which narrates the struggle of the divine prince Rama to rescue his wife Sita from the demon king Ravana. Along with the Mahabharata, it forms the Sanskrit Itihasa, the Ramayana is one of the largest ancient epics in world literature. It consists of nearly 24,000 verses, divided into seven Kandas, in Hind

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Rama with Sita on the throne, with their children Lava and Kusha on their laps. Behind the throne, Lakshmana, Bharat and Shatrughna stand. Hanuman bows to Rama before the throne. Valmiki is to the left.

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Scene Ramayana, Gupta art, National Museum, New Delhi.

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Rama seated with Sita, fanned by Lakshmana, while Hanuman pays his respects.

Razmnama
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The Razmnāma is a Persian translation of the Mahabharata. In Persian, “Razm” means “war” and nama means “tale” or “epic”, in 1574 Akbar started a Maktab Khana or a house of translation works in Fatehpur Sikri. He endorsed the work to a few officials to make translations of the Sanskrit books Rajatarangini, Ramayana, in 1582 an order was passed to t

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Razmnama leaf Brooklyn Museum.

Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak
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He was also one of the Nine Jewels of Akbars royal court and the brother of Faizi, the poet laureate of emperor Akbar. Abul Fazl ibn Mubarak ancestors hailed from Yemen, however, it was common during the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal Empire for individuals to embellish their ancestral heritage to raise their stature. He was a descendant of Shaikh Musa

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The court of Akbar, an ill ama

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Young Akbar leads a Mughal Army of 10,000 during the Second Battle of Panipat, against more than 30,000 mainly Rajput adversaries led by Hemu.

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Abu'l-Fazl presenting Akbarnama to Akbar, Mughal miniature

Sambhal
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Sambhal is a city in Uttar Pradesh, India. Sambhal is a Muslim dominated area and it takes 2 hours 40 mins to reach Sambhal and is 158.6 kilometres from New Delhi. Sambhal district, which had population of around 22 lakh, was carved out of Moradabad district in September 2011 and it consists of three tehsils — Sambhal and Chandausi, taken from Mora

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The first Mughal Emperor Babur awards his troops before their expedition to Sambhal.

Sufism
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Sufism or Taṣawwuf, which is often defined as Islamic mysticism, the inward dimension of Islam, or the phenomenon of mysticism within Islam, is a mystical trend in Islam characterized. These orders meet for sessions in meeting places known as zawiyas, khanqahs. They strive for ihsan as detailed in a hadith, Ihsan is to worship Allah as if you see H

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The tomb of Sheikh Rukn-ud-Din Abul Fath located in Multan, Pakistan. The city of Multan is known for various Sufi Saint tombs, as they call it the City of Saints

Akbar
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Abul-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad, popularly known as Akbar I and later Akbar the Great, was a Mughal Emperor from 1556 until his death. He was the ruler of the Mughal Dynasty in India. Akbar succeeded his father, Humayun, under a regent, Bairam Khan, a strong personality and a successful general, Akbar gradually enlarged the Mughal Empire to include

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Late 16th century portrait of Akbar by Manohar

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Rejoicing at the birth of the emperor the great 1542

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Akbar as a boy

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The Mughal Emperor Akbar is depicted training an elephant

Babur
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He was a direct descendant of Turco-Mongol conqueror Timur from the Barlas clan, through his father, and also a descendant of Genghis Khan through his mother. Babur was the eldest son of Umar Sheikh Mirza and he ascended the throne of Fergana in 1495 at the age of twelve and faced rebellion from his own relatives. He conquered Samarkand two years l

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Babur was driven out of Transoxiana by Muhammad Shaybani Khan, another descendent of Genghis Khan.

Humayun
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Like his father, Babur, he lost his kingdom early but regained it with the aid of the Safavid dynasty of Persia, with additional territory. At the time of his death in 1556, the Mughal Empire spanned almost one million square kilometres, in December 1530 Humayun succeeded his father as ruler of the Mughal territories in the Indian subcontinent. At

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Mughal Emperor Humayun

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Babur celebrates the birth of Humayun in the Charbagh of Kabul.

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The Mughal Emperor Humayun, fights Bahadur Shah of Gujarat, in the year 1535.

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Raja Todar Mal an ally of Sher Shah Suri, constructed the Rohtas Fort to check Humayun's retry from Persia, and also halt the local Muslim tribes from joining the claimant emperor.

Hijra (Islam)
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The Hegira or Hijrah is the migration or journey of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Yathrib, later renamed by him to Medina, in the year 622. In June 622, after being warned of a plot to him, Muhammad secretly left his home in Mecca to emigrate to Yathrib,320 km north of Mecca. Yathrib was soon renamed Madīnat an-Nabī,

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The Hegira and other earlier Muslim migrations

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Quba Mosque, the first mosque in the history of Islam, at the outskirts of Medina. It was founded by Islamic prophet Muhammad when he emigrated to Medina

Jami al-Tawarikh
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The Jāmiʿ al-tawārīkh, is a work of literature and history, produced in the Mongol Ilkhanate in Persia. Written by Rashid-al-Din Hamadani at the start of the 14th century, the surviving portions total approximately 400 pages, with versions in Persian and Arabic. The work describes cultures and major events in history from China to Europe, in additi

Rashid-al-Din Hamadani
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Rashīd al-Dīn Ṭabīb, also known as Rashīd al-Dīn Faḍlullāh Hamadānī, was a statesman, historian and physician in Ilkhanate-ruled Iran. He was born into a Persian Jewish family from Hamadan, having converted to Islam by the age of 30, Rashid al-Din became the powerful vizier of the Ilkhan, Ghazan. Later he was commissioned by Ghazan to write the Jām

R. C. Majumdar
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Ramesh Chandra Majumdar was a respected historian and professor of Indian history. Born at Khandarpara, in Faridpur District on 4 December 1888, to Haladhar Majumdar and Bidhumukhi, in 1905, he passed his Entrance Examination from Ravenshaw College, Cuttack. In 1907, he passed F. A. with first class scholarship from Ripon College and joined Preside

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Ramesh Chandra Majumdar (1888-1980)

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
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Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan is an Indian educational trust. It was founded on November 7,1938 by Dr. K. M. Munshi, the trust operates a number of primary and secondary institutes in India and abroad. It organizes and runs 100 private schools in India, the schools are known as Bharatiya Vidya Mandir, Bhavans Vidya Mandir, or Bhavans Vidyalaya. The Bharat

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Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan logo

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One of the schools in Kerala

Packard Humanities Institute
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It also funds external projects such as the Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources and the complete works of C. P. E. PHI is also concerned with education of children. The Institute is independent of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and is not associated in any way with any Hewlett-Packard Company foundations and its current presi

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Packard Campus for Audio-Visual Conservation

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The historic California Theatre, (Fox Theatre)

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Stanford Theatre, Palo Alto California

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Packard Humanities Institute, Santa Clarita

Virtual International Authority File
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The Virtual International Authority File is an international authority file. It is a joint project of national libraries and operated by the Online Computer Library Center. The project was initiated by the US Library of Congress, the German National Library, the National Library of France joined the project on October 5,2007. The project transition

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Screenshot 2012

Integrated Authority File
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The Integrated Authority File or GND is an international authority file for the organisation of personal names, subject headings and corporate bodies from catalogues. It is used mainly for documentation in libraries and increasingly also by archives, the GND is managed by the German National Library in cooperation with various regional library netw